Donald Trump's adult children plan to ditch their Secret Service detail...but only once he leaves office

  • President-elect Donald Trump's adult children are entitled to Secret Service protection for 10 years after he leaves office
  • But sources close to the Trump family say his four adult children - Donald Jr, Ivanka, Eric and Tiffany - will decline protection when he leaves the White House 
  • Trump and his wife Melania are entitled to Secret Service protection for life
  • Their son Barron, 10, is entitled to Secret Service protection until at least age 16 or 10 years after his dad leaves the White House
  • If Trump is elected to a second term, Barron will be 18 years old when his dad leaves the White House - the same age as first daughter Malia Obama

By Ashley Collman For Dailymail.com

Published: 09:20 EST, 13 December 2016 | Updated: 09:29 EST, 13 December 2016

Donald Trump's adult children are already planning to ditch their Secret Service detail, but only once their dad leaves office. 

As children of the President-elect, Trump's five children are entitled to Secret Service protection throughout his term, and for 10 years after he leaves office.

But a source close to the Trump family tell theNew York Post that the mogul's four adult children - Donald Jr, 38; Ivanka, 35; Eric, 32; and Tiffany, 23 - plan to decline Secret Service protection as soon as their father is out of the White House.

'It would just be completely unnecessary,' the source told the Post. 

President-elect Donald Trump's four adult children (from left to right: Donald Jr, 38; Ivanka, 35; Eric, 32; and Tiffany, 23) plan to decline their Secret Service detail as soon as their dad leaves office

President-elect Trump (left) and his wife Melania (right) will be entitled to Secret Service protection for life. Their son Barron, 10 (center), is entitled to Secret Service protection until at least age 16 and for as long as 10 years after his father leaves the White House  

There's no word yet on whether Trump's youngest son, 10-year-old Barron, will take advantage of Secret Service protection for the 10 years after his father leaves office, as is his right by law. 

Minor children of current and former presidents are given Secret Service protection until at least age 16 or for 10 years after their parent's term ends. If Trump only serves one term, Barron will be entitled to at least two more years of Secret Service protection. If his father is elected to two terms - Barron will be 18 years old when he leaves office - the same age that first daughter Malia Obama is today. The Washington Post is already reporting that Malia plans to shed her Secret Service detail in the fall, when she starts at Harvard.

President-elect Trump and his wife Melania are entitled to Secret Service protection for life. Former presidents are also allowed to decline Secret Service protection, but Richard Nixon - who resigned in disgrace after the 1974 Watergate scandal - has been the only president to do so since the creation of the agency in 1865.

Former President Bill Clinton signed into law a bill that limited Secret Service protection to former presidents inaugurated after January 1, 1997 to 10 years after leaving office. But in 2013,  President Obama reverted the law back to lifetime protection for all future presidents, as well reinstating lifetime protection for himself and President George W. Bush. 

WHO AND WHAT DOES THE SECRET SERVICE PROTECT? 

  • The president, the vice president, the president-elect and the vice president-elect
  • (If the office of the president or the vice president be vacant, the Secret Service protects the next in the order of succession. I.E. The speaker of the House or the president pro tempore of the Senate)
  • The immediate family members of the above persons 
  • Former presidents and their spouses for life, unless a spouse divorces or remarries. (Former presidents may also decline this protection, but Richard Nixon has been the only president thus far to do so.)
  • The widow or widower of a former President who dies in office or dies within a year of leaving office, for a period of one year after the President's death (this period of protection can be extended by the secretary of Homeland Security)
  • Children of former Presidents until age 16 or 10 years after their parent has left office
  • Former Vice Presidents, their spouses and their children under 16 years of age, for up to six months from the date the vice president leaves office. (The secretary of Homeland Security can also extend this period of protection.) 
  • Visiting heads of states or governments and their spouses traveling with them
  • Other distinguished foreign visitors to the U.S. and official representatives of the U.S. performing special missions abroad, as directed by the president 
  • Major presidential and vice presidential candidates 
  • The spouses of major presidential and vice presidential candidates (within 120 days of the general presidential election) 
  • Other individuals as designated by a presidential executive order 
  • National Special Security Events, as deemed by the secretary of Homeland Security. These are large gatherings that get special protection because they could be targets for terror attacks. Recent NSSEs have included the Republican and Democratic National Conventions, the 2016 Super Bowl and the 2016 State of the Union Address 

 

 

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